More than 90% of textile workers are exposed to continuous noise levels above 85 dBA. The majority of textile plants employ less than 100 and have limited capability for noise control. Research conducted under this program since 1974 has provided information necessary to reduce hazardous noise exposure for approximately one half of the more than 900,000 textile mill products workers in the United States. The program has been a model of cooperation by industry, labor, government, and a major university in a collaborative effort to solve a difficult occupational health problem. Research conducted under this program will provide information which can be utilized by the textile industry to achieve, at reasonable cost, maximum possible reductions of occupational exposure to noise. Engineering Controls will be developed for textile machinery. Modifications will be evaluated in anechoic laboratory studies using frequency and time domain analysis techniques. Successful retrofit equipment developed in these studies will be installed on production machines in cooperating textile mills for field trial evaluation. Specific goals include continued development of new concepts for noise control of both fly-shuttle and shuttleless looms, definition and control of noise from high speed belts and spindles as found in twisters and texturizers. Additionally, case histories of effective noise control measures reported by cooperating industries will be documented. Information will be communicated through technical publications, trade journals, open meetings and direct mailing.